Image: Octopi Media.

Ricky Carmichael had serious doubts about Cooper Webb heading into the Arlington 3 main event, saying he expected ‘third to fourth at best’, later explaining why he doubted the red-plate holder.

The five-time Monster Energy Supercross champion turned broadcast host estimated a podium was a stretch, with Webb’s rivals riding great and his night getting off to a rough start.

“I wasn’t expecting him to do as well in the main event,” Carmichael explained, “and I shouldn’t have disrespected him like that. The other guys were just so good, Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia, and I was like ‘it’s going to be really hard for Cooper to be up there. I thought third to fourth at best.”

Carmichael’s thoughts weren’t based solely on Webb’s competition though, much of his doubt stemming from a heat race that saw the current 450SX points leader caught and passed by his closest rival Roczen, then eventually taken to the ground by Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) in a matter of a few laps.

“I just thought the turnaround to rebound from his ride in the heat race was just going to be way too tall of an order. He was able to do it and honestly his result spoke for itself.”

Webb addressed the heat race issues in the post-race press conference, sharing what he was dealing with and what he focused on between races to eventually take the win.

“We had tried a bike change for the heat,” Webb explained, “that obviously I didn’t gel too well with. It was just a bad heat for sure.

“I kind of just went back and regrouped. I think that was the biggest thing was being able to regroup. It’s easy to let things slip away and let that ruin your whole night. So I was proud of myself for being able to rebound and get back on track and figure things out.

“I was able to watch some film and see where I was losing a lot of time. We had a bunch of rhythms that we were all doing different but kind of being able to see what was actually the fastest way through them all was good.

“I was able to adjust. It’s hard to gain pace, that’s for sure, and I was able to do that for the main event which worked out really well.”